BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. --
Port Canaveral broke ground on Friday on a new $30 million super terminal that will be able to handle the world's largest cruise ships, and the project means hundreds of construction jobs for Brevard County.
The prime contractor is Skansana, a Swedish company that specializes in projects like this.
The terminal will be based on the edge of a wharf that requires seawalls that extend more than 50 feet deep. It will eventually become one of two home terminals for Carnival cruise ships.
And the company pledges that a majority of the workers will be local.
Port officials said they are spending the money on the terminal because right now they have to juggle with cruise lines and cruise ships to figure out which ships will go where.
The terminal will also be state of the art, with the ability to accommodate the 4,800-person-capacity super ships that now go to other ports.
The contracting firm has offices in Orlando and will be using many local subcontractors, according to officials.
"We had a pledge from the contractor, 80 percent would be local. The last time we checked they were upwards of 90 percent, so this terminal is going to be built with local hands,” said Port Authority CEO Stan Payne.
It has been 15 years since the port has built a new terminal. The last one was built specifically for Disney ships and Disney contributed to the cost of its latest upgrades.
The port is in talks with Carnival about its contribution to the new terminal.
The port also used Friday’s event to kick off a fundraising drive. The Port Authority is trying to get $34 million from the federal government to widen and deepen the channel, so it can accommodate bigger ships.
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